Central Notes: Middleton, Pistons, Blatt, Love

One executive told Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that Khris Middleton will draw an offer of around $15MM in restricted free agency this summer, explaining that Middleton should get a salary in the range of the $14.7MM Chandler Parsons received this season based on Middleton’s superior defense. Such an offer would be close to the estimated $15.8MM max for Middleton in 2015/16. It would challenge the notion that the Bucks would be likely to match competing bids for the versatile former second-round pick, but Milwaukee has no shortage of flexibility, as I examined when I looked at their offseason ahead. Here’s more from around the Central Division:

  • Technology and increased revenue that makes more money available for scouting have changed the way teams evaluate European players, Pistons GM Jeff Bower said, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Bower and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy recently took a scouting trip to Europe ostensibly to look at draft prospects Kristaps Porzingis and Mario Hezonja, Langlois notes. “The comparisons are much easier to make and the levels of competition are much easier to round off today more so than 10 to 15 years ago,” Bower said.
  • David Blatt has an abrupt, self-confident manner and can come across a bit harsh, but the strength of his conviction has no doubt helped him endure the pressure and second-guessing incumbent of coaching a LeBron James team, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com examines.
  • The presence of James and the chance to win that comes with him would seem to be as much of an enticement for Kevin Love to remain with the Cavs as any, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com.
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